The Angel's Shadow
by D'n'A Productions
Summary: Life in the Maple world was perfectly fine for Karen. But everything changed, when they came... Rated T for Blood and Gore, Violence, Strong Language, Use of Drugs, Suggestive Themes, and anything else a rated T story could have.
1. Of Hate and Explosive Things

**Hello, chums! D'n'A Productions here, which stands for Derek (my penname) and Aaron (my friend/partner's penname). We've been collaborating for a while- Aaron usually has the raw ideas with that overactive imagination of his, and I usually extend on it and flesh out the skeleton of the story. Unless you don't like it. Then it's all Aaron's fault.**

**I'm just kidding! If you don't like it, tell me why (but gently. I don't think any budding writer appreciates or gains much from "U SCK!!! NVR TUCH A KYBRD EVR AGIN!!!")**

**This is our first "published" story (as in someone is reading it besides us), so bear with me. And without further ado…**

_Clouds. I hate clouds._

With a groan of exasperation, Karen half-rolled, half-fell out of her bed onto the hard wooden floor of her tree house home. Long, brown hair cascading messily over her face, she stumbled into a standing position.

_I hate my house._

Somewhere downstairs, her father yelled something that was probably inappropriate towards her. "Go to hell." she muttered feebly back, loud enough to give some false satisfaction and soft enough to hide her from a beating.

_I hate my parents._

Stumbling into the shower, she turned up the leaky faucet and watched as the water dripped almost painfully slow into the sink. Letting her face fall into the growing puddle, Karen laid in the pitiful bath for perhaps thirty seconds before her little, seven-year old sister, Doria, rapped on her door, saying something in an annoying sing-song voice that was drowned out by Karen promptly throwing a wooden brush at the door.

_I hate my sister._

No sooner had she begun easing up before her mother, hair drawn into a disheveled bun above her head and eyes popping as Doria huddled in her grasp, whimpering. "It's okay Dori-kins, Mummy will make sure your nasty big sister doesn't throw anything at you anymore, sweetums. Now go to daddy and have a nice hot breakfast, OK?"

Nodding almost imperceptibly, Doria rushed out of the room- but not before checking her mother's back was turned and blowing a silent raspberry at her fuming sister.

"How dare you! Frightening your sister like that! You could have seriously hurt her!"

The rant went on and on- it became little more than a faint buzzing in Karen's ear. She didn't bother to mention the door had been closed; she didn't bother to mention Doria had been the one starting the fight. She didn't say a thing because she knew her mother wouldn't hear a thing she said.

_I hate my life.

* * *

_

Seth watched, among the shadowy undergrowth, the young mage-in-training, somewhere in her late teens, stomp out the door, yelling furiously at whoever was inside. She was pretty, in a dangerous sort of way- black widow pretty, with long brown hair and blue eyes that could spark a fire from ten paces. His observation was cut short, however, when his partner, Elton, drew a pistol from its holster and leveled it at Karen. Seth immediately slapped the gun aside, cuffing Elton sharply on the head. "You want to ruin the mission before it even begins?! We follow any young mage we find into that school, then you can go all guns blazing, idiot!"

The admonished Purist rubbed his throbbing head, muttering curses under his breath. Stuffing the pistol back into his belt, Elton pulled out a cigarette, which had become increasingly popular among the Purist ranks, and lit it only to have Seth toss it into the undergrowth as well.

"Oh, light a warning fire for them, why don't you? God, have a little sense, man!"

Yet another Purist joined them on them among the dappled shadows of the tree, a captain bearing the badge of holy fire on his chest. "Ladies, please, break it up! Follow the mage, and no questions asked. We need to be quick if we want to get in before the barriers close!"

Grumbling, the two recruits followed Karen, who was unwittingly leading her greatest enemies to their goal, into the great shadow of Grendel's very own mage training school...

* * *

Karen stormed out of her house, eager to get out of that hell pit. She could still hear her father scream at her, but ignored him completely. She stomped through Ellinia and headed towards the Mage School to prepare for her job advancement.

_I **really **hate my life._

* * *

There it was- majestic, awe inspiring: Grendel's very own Academy of Young Wizards and Warlocks. Off course, Grendel himself, who spent most of his time in solitary meditation, spent close to no time actually educating the students- it just sounded good when he went to the annual convention of class-heads.

As it was, the Academy was surrounded by innumerable hexes, charms, and spells with the original purpose of simply showing off the Really Old's superior magical capabilities. But now they were being put to use as a faction, called the Dark Brotherhood by some and Purists by others, sought to destroy the impurities of God's perfect world- those who played God.

So it was that Karen found herself swearing all manner of inappropriate things as she tapped her foot, waiting for the invisible barriers to double-check her ID, ask password, so on and so forth, until a tiny hole began unraveling in the suddenly visible, whirling nexus of colors and sound.

* * *

High in the trees, Seth, Elton, and their captain kept their eyes pinned on the aspiring mage, waiting for her to cross the barrier.

"I say when she gets the barrier open, we capture her and get through the spell with force," whispered Elton, hand stroking his gun almost lovingly.

This remark was quickly followed by another cuff to the head. "Seriously, what have you done? Left your brains at home?", Seth inquired in a hushed rant, "We get in there like that and the magic will fry us barbecue crispy before we so much as pull a trigger."

"We can't risk screwing up the spell, otherwise the security might get suspicious and think that perhaps there are some people trying to break in," his captain whispered back in a slightly gentler voice.

_Really, you think? _Seth wondered, but out loud he said, "So just sit back and watch the clouds, moron."

Karen finally reached the seemingly empty clearing in the Ellinian forest where the barrier was blocking the way. She walked up to the multitude of spells, breathing spells of magic and power in a foreign, yet oddly familiar language, until the physical manifestation of defense unraveled itself. Immediately, Elton set the fuse on a bag of bronze mesos, which Seth took and, silent as a shadow, and snuck in with. The bandit Purist was about to follow when Seth cast him a mocking look.

"Let the grease man do his job. The bomb explodes first, _then _you go in."

* * *

Karen continued to walk down the dirt path until she saw the training field. There were already about 10 mages already training for their job advancements. She ran over to find her friend Jessica already training on a straw dummy.

"Hey Jess! How's your training going?" Karen was much brighter now that she was out of her little hell hole called "home".

"It's alright but-"

_BOOM!_

Karen and Jessica jumped around to see most of the mage's on the ground from what seemed to be an explosion. A pouch of mesos came from the forest and landed at Karen's feet. She looked down for a second, and then her eyes went wide in horror.

"Magic Guar-!"

Before she could finish her spell, the cunning bomb exploded and sent her flying down a steep hill and crashing into a tree with a dull thunk as skull met wood.

Everything went black.

**So, how'd you like it? Personally, I think it was all right, but...**

**Anyways, reviews are welcome! And constructive criticism builds better stories! And we all like better stories, don't we?**

**SO REVIEW!!! Until next time- ta, chums!  
**


	2. Of Old Hags and Hidden Cameras

**Hello, chums- D'n'A Productions back at it again!!! What, you thought you could get rid of me that easy? (Even though Aaron/James Bombeelu did deflate me quite a bit after he gave me a fake first review…)**

**But I'm over it now. And while I rant, I really need to come up with better chapter titles…

* * *

**

_Darkness. It s dark. _

Somewhere in Karen's concussed brain, the simple thought stirred. Blearily, she struggled to put together some form of coherent thought.

_I don't like__ darkness. Light isn't darkness. How do I get light?_

Lying still, she focused all of her energy into forming some sort of solution to her dilemma. Slowly, an idea dawned upon her. Tentatively, she cracked her eyelids open and was greeted by a harsh glare of the sun.

_Duh. That was obvious._

Shutting her eyes tight to the brief glare of the sun, her memories began to recollect. Brief flashes, but memories nonetheless. Dimly, she recalled...an explosion- Jessica, screaming at her to run, and a boy clad in black, a boy who could have been no older than her but with the trained hands of a killer. A murderer. And then...then there had been the sounds of gunfire, with two of the boy's- no, the _murderer's_ companions, also clad in the same uniform, black cloak with a star stitched across it, firing. Suddenly, Karen didn't want to remember, didn't want to hear the screaming, see the ground stained red with blood. Feel death.

Her eyes still clenched tight, she thought to herself over and over, _It was all a dream. Just a dream. And when I wake up, it'll be Doria whispering into my ear bad things. Just Doria, devil that she is...just a dream, just a dream, just a..._

She opened her eyes to see a serene clearing in the vast forest, a wizened old woman stirring a black cauldron full of enticing aromas, and the Ellinian trees whispering in the dappled sunlight. And even in this fairytale landscape, she knew with full certainty it hadn't been a dream.

_Maybe the darkness isn't so bad after all.

* * *

_

"Any survivors?"

Seth curled his lip in disgust as he picked up the still body, checking for a pulse before tossing it aside. "Dead, the lot of them."

"What about escapees?"

It was Elton's turn to respond as he came jogging back. "Far as I can tell, most of them were killed on the spot."

The captain crossed his arms, looking down disdainfully at Elton. "Most?"

Cowering under his superior's glare, the Purist recruit backed up, nearly tripping over a pile of mangled carcasses. "W-well, sir, its just that-"

"Just what, lackey?!"

Pretending not to notice his peer cowering in fear, Seth hid with the premise of checking another dead body, covering his ears behind the cover of the deceased mage-in-training.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU MISSED A SECTION OF THE BUILDING?!"

"Umm, I kind've got caught up in the moment, shooting mages and all...a-and uh...I missed the back s-section..."

Seth smirked. If the rest of the Dark Brotherhood were as idiotic as Elton, he'd find his way up to the top in no time.

Turning aside in frustration, the captain kneaded his temples as he took out a walkie-talkie. "We missed a group of mages. I'm sending in a team to track them down- I'm going to need techies and back-up. You, too, Gren, we may have to detonate on this one."

* * *

_One...two...three..._

Karen's eyes flung wide open once more. No use. Still the same clearing, still the same old woman.

_OK. Try again. One...two..._

Her mental countdown was interrupted as the old woman finally spoke. "Unless you've caught some deadly eye-virus, get up and make yourself useful."

Not knowing what else to do, Karen rose and finally got a better view of her surroundings. She had been lying on a decaying log that had been soft enough to trick her into thinking it was some sort of fabric, and the women stirring the cauldron, in truth, was the ugliest thing she had ever seen. The hag's yellow teeth were split and chipped, and her milky gray eyes gazed sightlessly into the distance. Dressed in a tattered black shawl, the shock of white hair on her balding head swade with her as she chanted in a monotonic lisp.

Seeing Karen staring in revoltion out of the corner of her eye, the hag cast her a crooked grin, revealing black gums. "Didn't think any person could get so ugly, did ya? Didn't think a witch like me would be living...here." At this, she waved her hands around, gesturing at the scenic clearing.

The young mage put her hands up, quickly turning her eyes away and stuttering, "N-no! I didn't mean to be rude! I was just-!"

The old woman held up a finger, rising and putting the stirring ladle aside. "Hush, young one,", she said without turning her head, "They always have the same reaction. Common folk. Normal folk. I'm used to it now."

Straightening the haggard rags around her bodice, the hag began hobbling into the trees, which seemed oddly out of place in contrast with Karen's savior. "But if you really want to help, come with me. You weren't the only casualty, and there's work to be done."

And with that, Karen stood alone. Alone with a choice.

* * *

By the time the mages had breached the system of explosives hidden in the ground, it was too late. The Dark Brothers had vanished without trace, quite blatantly lacing the dead bodies, scarred expertly and dripping with blood, along the Ellinian trees. The symbolism was all too obvious.

But as the Purists cheered and drank beer in their hideout in Kerning City, Seth sat alone, pouring over one of those fancy new computers that had found their way across the ocean. Something wasn't right. They had caught a decent number of the disgusting, mage filth, but still, it seemed...too little. He had seen with his own two eyes their sheer numbers- surely that couldn't be _all_ the mages of the entire west quadrant. Surely...

Taking off the popping out the tiny micro-cameras that secretly recorded everything that went on around him, Seth cast a furtive glance at the Purist party goers before hooking it into his laptop and pressing play. Scrutinizing it, he ignored the blood, the screaming, and the death, watching carefully until...there! Right after the initial explosion, several mages had been knocked out of the perimeter. But suddenly...they were gone.

Cursing, Seth rewound, slowing the it down to one frame per second. Then, he saw it. A flash of emerald-green light, a stooped figure waving a gnarled wooden staff among the trees, and the mages were gone. Shutting the laptop down and placing his precious camera in its customary position behind his ear, Seth stood and began walking out. The bartender, who was a Purist himself and didn't bother adding government tax to his whiskey, looked up. "Hey, Seth! Where you going?"

Seth smiled as he revved the engine of his motorcycle, completely ignoring safety and tossing the helmet aside. "Just going out to catch a couple stray mice," he said, cocking his gun. "A couple mice who are going to wish they stayed in their holes."

* * *

**So...its kind of short (in my opinion), and for that long of a wait, too! Ah, well...**

**Anyways, word on the street is I need to work on my sentence structure...so there's not a single sentence with more than four commas (I hope)! HAH!**

**But seriously, thanks for the tip, CrapPishh. Until next time- ta, chums!  
**


	3. Of Tree Bark and Sunglasses

**Hello, chums! Wow...Noebody09, you really jumped the gun there. But enough! NO SPOILERS!!!**

**Anyways, I have a new story up- this one is going to slow down even more because Tainted is a reader demand kind of thing- can't keep the crowds waiting, can I?**

**Which means I can't leave you waiting either. So this one isn't going to die _completely_.

* * *

**

"Get the wildwood bark. No, not those you dolt, the darker colored ones," the old hag, who still remained unnamed, instructed Karen. "That's it- slice it up into thin strips, and boil it in the cauldron. Now stir, gently does it..."

Hurriedly, Karen obeyed. She wanted to make a good impression- she had to, if she wanted to stay.

Lying in cots, or just on the floor around the hut, inside the hut, and a cellar under the hut, wounded mages lay in varying stages of unconsciousness. The hut in question was wooden, thatched with straw, and with barely enough room to house a bed, a table, and a person, never mind hundreds of mages.

As she tended the injured, the thought crossed Karen's mind more than once- _How did I get off so easy?

* * *

_

With a roar and a squeal, the motorcycle made a 90 degree turn and shuddered to a stop. Hopping off the mechanized bike, Seth hid in the shadows, watching. Emergency wizards were swarming over the scene of the crime like crows to carrion, but he knew hands-on that they wouldn't find anything. Himself, however- that was a different story.

Donning the black cloaks that were the standard uniform of the emergency response, Seth walked over through the scene looking for anything that would be related to the missing mages. He found torn robes and scorched patches of grass all over the area.

Another ER wizard walked over. "They did a pretty good job, didn't they?", he said sarcastically, shaking his head. "Say, I haven't seen you around here a lot. Where you from?"

Seth shrugged, surveying the scene. "I'm a Black Op. guy. There's not a lot of time to report back to base, if you know what I mean."

The wizard paused, looking at the undercover Purist. "Black Ops? Then what're you doing here?"

Flashing the wizard a grin, Seth answered with, "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

Pausing once more from his inspection of the crime scene, he took the statement as a joke. "Good one,", he said, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye.

"I'm dead serious."

"Well, if you're serious-", the wizard replied, but he was talking to thin air. Seth was gone. Shaking his head, the ER mage got up. "Undercover agents- they just have to be so dramatic, don't they?", he said, walking away and not for one second considering the possibility Seth wasn't on his side.

* * *

Karen was carefully pouring herbal tea into tiny china cups when the old hag screamed. It was a frightening sight- her eyes were popping, her mangled hair standing on end- so frightening, in fact, that Karen dropped the pot, which sent shards of shattered porcelain across the floor and the scalding tea all over Karen's legs.

Biting back the pain, Karen looked up from her burned limbs to the old hag, about to reprimand her before realizing she had gone into a trance-like state. Moaning and chanting in some long forgotten language, the hag's eyes gleamed. "An intruder has come,", she said, "An intruder with deadly intentions."

There followed an awkward silence, as Karen waited for directions. There came none.

Finally, she spoke. "What do we do about this...intruder?"

The hag shook her head. "We do nothing. Time shall reveal what to do in due time."

* * *

Seth was, in truth, rather disappointed. No guards, no barriers- only an elementary tripwire he hadn't even bothered to disable. _Let them feel fear._

Despite this, he walked cautiously, gun cocked and ready to fire. His eyes were dark and searching- there was no mercy in those eyes. Slicing through the dense foliage, Seth kept his thief's dagger in his teeth when not using it- he emerged in the sunlit clearing Karen had woken in.

It held none of the magic he Karen had felt for him. Sniffing disdainfully, he reached into the folds of his cloak to pull out a pair of dark sunglasses. Knowing Seth, however, it was not a surprise to find the glasses' lens were actually computer screens, which had several filter options including thermal, x-ray, and eyes-in-the-back-of-the-head. Seth selected "magic".

Suddenly, everything was bathed in orange light. Blue tendrils snaked upwards from the ground, but the signature he was looking for, the signature of _human_ magic, was a brilliant scarlet red.

Grinning evilly, Seth slipped the dagger into its sheath and took out a pistol from its holster. In truth, he rather resembled a sinister Neo from _The Matrix_.

The snake had entered the Garden of Eden.

* * *

**And cut! God, this is puny...I'm ashamed to even publicize this chapter...**

**But Aaron thinks that this story has been dead for too long, and I totally agree with him. So think of this as a sort of filler chapter- nothing got done, but there's more coming.**

**Until next time- ta, chums!  
**


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